TPI Chronicles 1: Part of the Team
by shadowglove
Summary: Chloe & Lana founded Tara Paranormal Investigations, and they'd grown so famous Lois isn't enough help. Only problem is that all the applicants for the jobs available know nothing about the paranormal...and then Jo Harvelle and Ava Wilson apply.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville or Supernatural.**

Written for my Livejournal Paranorma25 150 Prompt Table. Prompt of the day #46: EMF Meter/Detector

Should be a two or three shot.

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"Chloe!" Lana arrived at the door of Chloe's office, eyes wide, breathless. "You need to come out here _now_."

Turning off the power to her screen, Chloe stood, eyes narrowed. "What is it?"

"I don't _know_." Lana admitted before hurrying away.

Knowing in the pit of her stomach that this _was not good_, Chloe hurried out after her friend and froze in shock once they reached the kitchen area of the building…where shadowcreatures were circling a wide-eyed Lois.

"_Lois!_" Chloe was half worried and half annoyed. "What did you do _this_ time?"

Lois looked over at her cousin with a wide-eyed, guilty expression. "I was trying to make a better, more advanced EMF detector with the materials Lucy shipped to us from Bangkok, but, uh—I think instead of _sensing_ ghosts it's _attracting_ ghosts."

"What have I _told_ you about going onto those technopagan websites and trying to construct those things on your own?" Chloe asked, growling slightly, not even _flinching_ as a couple of shadows floated around her, playing with her hair and clothes.

"Not to?" Lois winced.

Chloe's eyes narrowed. "Then why did you try it _again_?"

"Because I was so _sure_ I could do it this time!" Lois announced, stomping her foot somewhat childishly. "It was a simple EMF detector! It wasn't _supposed_ to do anything like _this_! It was supposed to be harmless yet _useful_!"

"_Lois_…" Lana sighed, shaking her head as an unruly shadow creature, or, er, maybe _ghost_, picked up the coffeemaker and smashed it on the ground.

Chloe's eyes went _furious_. "I just _bought_ that coffeemaker!"

Even the _spirits_ stopped what they were doing, faltering, and turning to look at her in slight trepidation.

The fury she was emanating was _that_ great.

Lana took a couple of steps backwards.

It took a little while for Chloe to manage to undo the damage Lois' 'EMF meter' had done, but thankfully soon all the ghosts were gone and the three women sat down to a nice warn coffee (brought over by an apologetic Lois) in the conference room.

When Lana had gotten her divorce settlement from Lex, Chloe had been surprised when the brunette had come to her about a partnership. They'd use Lana's money and Chloe's knowledge to form _Tara_, named after the goddess of Peace and Protection.

As Lana had said, they all (well, mostly Chloe) had been battling the weird and unnatural all of their lives…so why not help others and make money off of it at the same time?

And that was how _Tara_ was born.

They took in high paying, odd, and often dangerous cases that no other sane person would, and somehow Lois had gotten herself onto their payroll and a part of the team. The fact that she could kick the butt of almost anything (supernatural or not) was a plus, of course, because while Lana knew _some_ self defense Chloe really wasn't that good when it came to hand to hand.

Or, well, she _hadn't_ been when they'd begun, but considering that their lives were on the line here, they'd all taken self-defense classes and had learnt how to shoot and use other weapons that they'd be needing in their job.

"So, how are the job applicants looking?" Lois asked over her cup of coffee.

Lana and Chloe shared looks.

Lois frowned. "That bad?"

Lana put down her cup. "Well, what could we expect really? The add said _'Anyone with knowledge of the occult and with the willingness to use it to combat evil may apply'_, we should have expected the whack jobs that applied."

"Most of them are people who read a little too much Anne Rice." Chloe snorted in disgust. "It's annoying."

"Chloe." Lana sighed.

"It _is_." Chloe exclaimed, turning to Lois. "I had them do the test."

"Oh, the test." Lois blinked.

"Yeah, the _test_." Lana pouted.

The test was designed to weed out which applicants actually knew squat and would be useful, from those hoping to be abducted by aliens/soulmated to werewolves/claimed by vampires---you get the picture.

"How many took the test?" Lois asked, intrigued.

"A hundred and eighty nine." Lana recalled.

"Wow. Interviewing that many applicants must have been hell!" Lois grinned. "How many passed the test?"

Silence.

Lois looked from Lana to Chloe. "Someone _did_ pass the test, right?"

More silence.

Lois' eyes widened in shock. "NO ONE passed the test?!?"

Chloe grumbled into her coffee.

Lana pouted deeper.

"Unbelievable!" Lois exclaimed in horror. "Not one person! We're sunk!"

"What are we going to do?" Lana whispered, worried, gaze on Chloe. "We're horribly understaffed as it is! We need someone to man the phone constantly _plus_ we need at _least_ two more people to help us in the fieldwork! We're barely managing to meet the needs of our _growing_ list of clients and we're going to have a nervous breakdown as it is! I will _not_ go bald from stress and be a matching set for my ex!"

Lois snorted into her coffee at the thought of a bald Lana and bald Lex prancing around some field of daisies together holding hands.

Lana, obviously not needing to be a psychic to know what was going on in Lois' perverse imagination, sent her a glare.

Chloe just sighed, trying to keep her wits about her. "Look, something will turn out, okay? And if push comes to shove, we could _always_ ask Clark or Ollie or one of the boys to help us out if they have a spare minute."

"_NO!_" Both Lana and Lois jumped to their feet, palms against the surface of the table, at that.

Mentioning their exes _probably_ hadn't been the best idea, but Chloe really wasn't seeing any other options. Lana and Clark, and Lois and Oliver, had both ended on _horrible_ terms, but Chloe was still friends with both males, members of the Justice League of America. If she needed to, she _was_ going to bring them in to help, whether Lana or Lois agreed to it or _not_.

"Okay, look, I'm going to say this once and once only." Chloe stared down both brunettes with narrowed eyes. "You're going to have to learn to be professional and separate professional relationships and personal. Sure, you two had bad breakups, but guess what? The Justice League and us _will_ most probably cross paths again while on jobs or need each other's assistance, like we have in the past, and we will rise to the occasion like the professionals we are."

Lois and Lana looked away, pouting darkly.

The phone rung.

Three pairs of eyes swung towards the wall and Chloe cleared her throat, hopeful, as she went to the kitchen phone and picked up the receiver, placing it to her ear. "_Tara_ Investigations, how may I help you?"

"Um, yeah, is this Tara?" The voice on the other end asked.

Chloe, used to this questioning, and just sick and tired of having to explain the reason behind the name, just nodded and sighed. "Yes, speaking, how may I help you?"

"Well, I know that the deadline for handing in applications ended a week ago, but I only saw the add this morning and I was wondering, if you haven't filled in the position of receptionist as yet, if you'd allow me to hand in mine."

Chloe didn't know whether to wince at the fact that this was probably yet _another_ whacko who thought reading one or two Nora Roberts' books made them _experts_, or dare hope that this female, whomever she was, could be the real deal. "We have received many promising applications for the post."

Lois and Lana's eyes widened in horror.

"_What are you doing_?" Lois hissed as she and Lana hurried to Chloe, trying to eavesdrop on the conversation.

Swatting them away like annoying bugs, Chloe took in a deep breath and continued. "But would you be willing to undergo a small telephone test? If you pass it we will accept your application and consider it as seriously as the ones already handed in."

"God, I hate orals, but give it to me anyway."

Lois, who'd pressed her ear as close to the receiver as possible, snorted in laughter at that.

Lana whacked her away and took her spot, trying to hear better.

"You _do_ know, miss, that this is a job in which we will deal with the paranormal." Chloe began.

"Yeah, kinda got that from the add." The woman declared with a snort.

Chloe smirked. "Well then, I'll ask you some questions and you tell me a **false** myth about them."

"Hmm…this is _different_." And yet she sounded amused. "Go on."

"Vampires."

"Can't go out in the sunlight."

Lois and Lana exchanged surprised glances at that.

"Werewolves." Chloe continued, smirking.

"Once bitten you can be cured."

The brunettes smiled at each other.

"Sirens."

"Are only female."

Chloe turned to the other females. _'I like this one'_ she mouthed before clearing her throat. "And last but not least, tell me what you think about Halloween."

"Safest night in the whole damned year supernaturally wise." The woman replied immediately. "Nothing _really_ bad would do anything during that night, it'd be _embarrassing_ for them. You have to look out for the _human_ baddies though."

'_Hire her!_' Lana mouthed as she jumped up and down in happiness.

'_Or suffer!_' Lois threatened, hand-pumping the air in thankfulness at the sign that having to work with her _ex_ might not be in her future.

Chloe smiled. "Well, you've passed the oral, feel free to submit your application through either email or post, or by handing it in yourself at our front desk. If shortlisted you will be contacted within the week to perform a written exam, and then if chosen you will be notified."

"That's a lot of procedures to be applying to be the _receptionist_."

"Yes, well, in our line of work we need to be _sure_ of the person we're relying on." Chloe declared.

There was a moment's silence. "I like the sound of that. I'll email it in. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Chloe smiled.

"The name's Ava, by the way." The woman announced. "It's going to be a pleasure working with you all."

And with that she hung up, leaving Chloe to wonder at the certainty in her voice when she'd said that.

Putting the receiver back in its place, Chloe turned to the two brunettes currently congratulating themselves on a job well done. "Well, she sounds the most credible out of all of our applicants."

"This is a sign, an omen of _good_." Lana grinned brightly. "This just _shows_ that we're going to get better applicants soon! I mean, we have three positions (at _least_) to fill in, and while receptionist _is_ the lower position it's still a _vital_ part! We're going to get the other applicants, I _know_ it!"

"_Tara_ IS a big business, and we _do_ have more and more clients every day that we're stretching to impossible lengths to accommodate." Lois agreed, going back to her coffee to celebrate. "We need more fieldworkers, we need a techie since _I_ obviously will not do in that department, and maybe a consultant?"

"Look, _needs_ and _wants_ are different." Chloe exclaimed, hands on her hips. "We _need_ fieldworkers, at least _two_, and we _need_ a consultant. You _leave_ the technobabble _alone_ Lois."

Lois pouted. "But I'm _telling_ you that I read online that if we make the stuff ourselves its better because its blessed with our _energy_ and its more in tune with our _aura_ and…" She stopped, noticing the way Lana and Chloe were looking at her. "_What_? It's _true_! You don't _know_ what childhood trauma the creep who makes the stuff you buy in stores had and it infects our gear and ruins them!"

Lana turned her hesitant gaze to Chloe. "You know, we _have_ seen weirder."

"Not you _too_." Chloe whined. "You can hardly turn _on_ a computer without frying it, and Lois can barely work the _microwave_ without short-circuiting the whole building!"

"Hey!" Lois cried out. "That only happened _once_!"

"And since when have our equipment given us any trouble?" Chloe sent a glare in Lois' direction. "When _someone_ hasn't _tampered_ with them, of course."

"_Upgraded_." Lois murmured under her breath resentfully, folding her arms over her chest and huffing at the ungratefulness of it all. "I was trying to _upgrade_ our equipment."

"If we get someone, _if_, you are _never_ allowed to much less _look_ at technopagan websites again, understood?" Chloe threatened her cousin.

Lois's eyes widened, not knowing whether to grin at the fact that Chloe was considering getting someone to do those things for them so they could have _clear and pure_ energy, or pout at the restriction being placed upon her.

She turned to Lana, seeking some support.

"Don't look at me." Lana raised her hands in the air. "I just hand in the money, Chloe's the Big Kahuna here."

In the end, Lois decided to just nod her acceptance to Chloe's terms.

"Good." Chloe nodded. "Now I'm going to go check out our email, she might have sent in her application already."

"I thought you were going to make her wait a few days to downplay the 'we're desperate' part." Lois called after her cousin.

"I am." Chloe nodded, stopping at the doorway. "Doesn't mean I'm not going to investigate her though. Won't do to have some psycho or monster working for us." And with that she disappeared.

"Hmmm." Lois blinked. "I hadn't thought of that."

"_That_ is why she's the Big Kahuna." Lana pointed out.

"Hmmmm." Sipping the last of her coffee, Lois linked her arm around Lana's. "How about we go get some movies to watch while Chloe's busy being Dick Tracy?"

"How about some horror?" Lana asked, grinning, as they walked out of the kitchen area.

Lois grinned. "You read my mind."

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Looking over the application once more, Chloe sent a peek in the direction of the laptop, in which WILSON, AVA was being checked thoroughly. A glance at the clock told her that it was way past midnight, and she knew that Lois and Lana had clocked out hours ago to go home and do whatever it was that they did whenever they weren't together badmouthing their exes or working at _Tara_.

Sighing, the blonde leaned back against her seat and gave the application a speculative glimpse. She'd printed it off so that she could read it without the glare of the computer's screen, and she couldn't help but admit that Ava Wilson mightn't be an adept in paranormal knowledge or anything, but she was a fair enough secretary, working in Peoria, and according to her, she was a _psychic_.

That, of course, was listed under the section that asked what 'skills' the applicant had that he/she considered would make him/her useful for the job being applied for, and if Ava Wilson really _was_ a psychic, then Chloe could find _many_ uses for the woman.

Wondering if there were any tests she could put the woman under to prove the validity of that power, Chloe jerked when sensor alarms went off. Her eyes narrowed as she went to her main computer and typed in a couple of codes, the security cameras around the building lighting up until she found the one in red and zoomed in on it, surprised when instead of finding a monster or villain trying to break into _Tara_, she instead found a pretty, young blonde leaning against the front door---which was what activated the alarm system in the first place.

Hesitating for a moment, Chloe reached for the intercom system at her desk and pressed a button. "Can I help you?"

The female on the night-vision screen jumped at the voice, looking around her, trying to find the voice.

Chloe tried not to be amused, instead imagining her _own_ scare if a bodiless voice spoke to her in the darkness. "Do you see the white box to your right? Press the button when you're speaking and release it to get replies."

The blonde turned towards the box and followed the voice towards it, pressing the button and leaning towards the box. "I'm here for the job advertized on the web?"

Chloe blinked.

Two new applicants in one night?

"The office is closed now, office hours are from 8: 30 to 6:00." She watched the other woman pull a strand of blonde hair from her face. "You can come back tomorrow and give in your application."

"Um…okay." The blonde pushed away from the box and looked around before walking away slowly.

Chloe followed her on the cameras, switching from camera to camera until she saw the blonde hunch down in between the trees by the side of the building and put her backpack on the ground, lying down on the ground.

_She's going to spend the night out there_.

Knowing it wasn't exactly safe for a young woman to be doing that, Chloe sighed and gave the computer still running a thorough search on WILSON, AVA a quick look before grabbing the swipe key and heading to the front of the building. She exited into the chilly night and stalked around the building to where she'd seen the woman lying down, finding her right where she'd seen her last.

"You know, that's not very safe." Chloe announced, clearing her voice. She didn't even know _why_ or _how_ she knew in the darkness, but she moved liquid-like and reached out with her hand, catching the blade that would have slammed into her heart otherwise.

"Oh my god!" The blade-throwing blonde exclaimed, climbing to her feet. "I'm so sorry! I thought you were some weirdo trying to---you _caught_ it!" Even in the moonlight it was obvious to see the shock and _awe_ in those brown eyes. "And its so dark---_how?_---cool! I'm _definitely_ going to work here!"

Despite the fact that this girl had just _thrown a blade_ at her, Chloe kinda liked her. She tested the blade before handing it back to the other girl. "So you're here for the application for _fieldworker_ I presume."

The girl grinned brightly. "Yeah, I am."

"Nice skills, with the blade." Chloe looked her up and down thoughtfully. "Got any other skills?"

She nodded. "I'm handy with guns, I can fight hand to hand, I have a basic knowledge of what is what and how to kill it, _and_ I can make any kind of alcoholic beverage you ask for."

Chloe raised an eyebrow, amused. "You're an interesting individual." She pulled out a _Tara _card from her pocket and passed it to the other blonde. "There's a small yet homey bed and breakfast two blocks east called Cozy Tiemz. Go there, ask for Marty, give him this card and say that _Tara_ sent you. Leave your application with me, have a good night's sleep, and come here around 10:30 tomorrow for the written, physical, and psych examinations."

Looking up from the card, the woman blinked. "Are _you_ Tara?"

Somewhat amused, Chloe gave a little sigh and nodded, thinking _once again_, that that was what she got for letting Lana name the company. And since Chloe was the one who dealt with the people, most assumed she was 'Tara', and she'd gotten sick of correcting them. "Apparently I am."

The stranger grinned and stuck out her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you." She shook Chloe's hand, and her hold was strong, calloused, used to hard work. "My name's Jo----Joanna Beth Harvelle."

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**Review?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Don't own Smallville/Supernatural.**

Wanna thank **violent-smurf, ChamberlinofMusic, Ellyanah, xineweber, DiscoLemonadeDiva, Dannie Tomlinson, Shadow Girl, vamp1987, Idril-Lune **and **miki **for reviewing the previous chapter.

Written for my Livejournal Paranormal25 150 Prompt Table. Prompt of the day #7: Haunting.

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"Okay, so far you two have passed all of your tests with flying colors." Chloe announced with a pleased smile, eyeing Ava Wilson and Jo Harvelle as both woman stood a little nervously under her scrutiny as she walked up and down while talking to them.

"You know, I never understood that expression." Lois whispered to Lana in the background. "How are flying colors good? You can't even _see_ flying colors well because they're so _blurred_."

Lana blinked, looking at the taller woman with wide eyes. "I've never thought of that before."

Ava and Jo exchanged looks.

Chloe stopped a second, sighed as she looked up at the heavens and closed her eyes before opening them again and placing them back on the two potential new recruits. "So, since you've passed the other tests, I've designed a little _test_ to see how you'd perform under a case."

Ava tilted her head to the side, intrigued.

Jo perked up, looking excited at the prospect.

The phone rang.

Chloe motioned to the desk.

Ava's eyes widened as she rushed towards the desk and sat down, taking a second to compose herself, clearing her throat, before picking up the receiver and bringing it to her ear. "Tara Investigations, how may we help?"

Jo leaned against the wall, arms folded over her chest, courteously silent while Ava worked.

Chloe gave Ava props for the '_how may we help'_ and the cheery yet not _overly chirpy_ way in which she spoke.

"Ma'am, please calm down and tell me what's wrong." Ava cradled the receiver between her ear and shoulder as she frowned at the computer screen, beginning to type rapidly as she listened. "Uh-huh, and how long has this been happening?" More typing. "Has there been any reconstruction being done during the last couple of weeks? Remodeling? Maybe cutting down a new tree outside, or maybe digging up the backyard for a new Jacuzzi? Anything that might have disturbed the spirit you believe to be haunting your home?"

Lois' eyes widened, impressed.

Lana grinned brightly, just visibly refraining herself from clapping in excitement.

"What sort of paranormal events have occurred that makes you so sure that it's something supernatural in nature and not just faulty plumbing? We don't want to waste your time or your money." Ava continued to type rapidly as she listened to the voice on the other end of the phone. "Yes, Tara _did_ come up with that policy." She looked up at Chloe and sent a quick smile before speaking. "Hmmm, that does sound fairly paranormal in nature. I agree. Was anyone hurt? That's good to hear."

Chloe smirked as she watched Ava work. The woman was a _pro_ at this, easily getting the information needed from the client and managing to also connect with her emotionally, getting the client to obviously like her and reveal things easily.

This was a good thing, especially since a lot of customers, for whatever reasons, sometimes withheld information that was vital to the investigation.

And also, now thinking about it, if they could help Ava cultivate her powers so that she could activate it at will for a _specific_ thing and not just have the random flashes or crimes or whatnot she received, that could be an amazing asset to _Tara_.

"I have your contact information here and we will be sending some operatives who should be arriving there within the next 30 minutes. The happenings have been mostly harmless in nature, so you and your family should be fine. If anything happens while our operatives are on route, please call us immediately." Ava smiled and nodded. "You too ma'am."

Lana couldn't refrain herself any longer, and as soon as Ava hung up she gave a little clap.

Chloe sent her a look before turning to Ava expectantly.

Ava motioned with her finger for Chloe to come closer as she finished typing something up and the printer began to print out some sheets. "Okay, so the name of our client is Marcy Lafayette, and she lives at this address. Her, her husband, and son moved into the house three years ago and everything was fine, but two weeks ago they started some remodeling on it and ever since there's been _weird_ activity going on. At first it was just harmless things like hearing noises and seeing shadows, then the family dog refused to enter the part of the house being remodeled, the tools began disappearing, and now one of the men doing the remodeling had an accident while trying to knock down a wall."

"What part of this made you sure it was supernatural?" Jo wanted to know, making a face. "They sound paranormal, yeah, but there's no cincher there."

Ava raised a challenging eyebrow at the blonde. "The man was injured when an apparition of a man appeared in front of them all and hit him in the head with a hammer."

Jo blinked. "Cincher."

"_Yeah_." Ava replied with some attitude before turning to Chloe and passing her the printed papers after stapling them together.

Chloe looked over the basic information on the paper and did her best not to smile as she looked up at Ava. "We're on it." She turned to Lois and Jo. "Let's go." And yet she seemed to be waiting for something.

Ava cleared her throat. "I've already begun a search for any information on the Lafayette's home, and about its former owners. I'll check for any deaths, suicides, and/or disappearances and try to find out who this sucker is and where his bones are---or any other thing that might be tying him to the home and keeping our clients from having the recreational room they want so badly."

Chloe slowly allowed herself to finally grin at the brunette for the first time since this had all begun.

Obviously encouraged by this, Ava perked up, straightening in the seat. "I have your number on speed dial and when I find something I'll call you immediately."

Chloe leaned over the woman and ruffled her hair.

Ava gave a squeal of horror and confusion as her hair was messed up.

Chloe grinned. "Welcome to the team, suffer the initiation rite." She turned to Lana. "Draw up the contract while we're out."

Lana was grinning brightly, her small body so filled with excited energy she was nearly _trembling_. "Yeah!" She turned and hurried away to her office.

Ava watched her go with a slight uneasy look, obviously not trusting someone so chirpy.

Chloe turned and motioned for the others to follow her as they left _Tara_ and went to the underground parking lot. While everyone would have their own vehicles for use whenever the cases were many, they all piled into her Yaris, Lois in the front passenger's seat, as they headed towards the Lafayette's residence.

"A Yaris, huh?" Jo asked with a raised eyebrow as she sat in the backseat.

"Hey, no dissing the Yaris." Chloe replied, letting Lois fiddle with the radio before finding a station they could both agree with, listening to the sound of _Klaxon's_ version of _My Love._

When they finally drove up the driveway of the large home in a elite Metropolis neighborhood, Chloe got out and walked to the back of her car, opening the trunk and pressing a button. The false button slid out of the way, revealing the various weapons, holy water, spell books and other things she'd found necessary while doing this work.

"Wow." Jo announced once she reached her side. "I will _never_ diss the Yaris again."

"Thank you." Chloe grinned, reaching it and grabbing her personalized pistol and back of rocksalt bullets and, salt, and accelerant. Lois grabbed some other things, and when Chloe motioned for Jo to reach in and grab what she needed, the blonde dove in like a child at Christmas.

When they were discreetly packing, Chloe closed the lid of the trunk and they went to meet the client, who was a normal upper-class dyed blonde with a bad smoking problem and trembling hands.

"Are you Tara?" The woman asked, turning to Chloe, when the three women arrived by her.

Chloe nodded with a practiced smile and started talking to the woman, getting more details out of her of what had happened.

"So I'm not the only one who made that mistake." Jo whispered to Lois.

The brunette nodded, leaning Chloe to be able to whisper. "Between you and me, it's gotten to the point where Chloe automatically looks up if we're in a crowd and someone calls out 'Tara'!"

Jo was surprised. "Really?"

Lois nodded. "To be fair, though, its usually one of our old clients, so it's good she's gotten used to it. Lana actually picked the name because it's the name of the Goddess of Peace and Protection, and she had this big desire to bring that to the people, you know? It's a _little_ too Hallmark card-ish for me, but hey, I'm getting a paycheck so who am I to question? Anyway, she wanted to name it _Isis_ but Chloe refused to work for a company, and co own it, if it was named after the creator of the first golden _dildo_, so Lana went for her second option."

Jo continued to blink, mouth slightly open in shock. "Golden---?"

"Yep." Lois nodded.

"Are you two done bonding?" Chloe asked, breaking into their conversation, looking mildly amused. She must have overheard the last few sentences.

"Hey, where's the client?" Lois wanted to know.

Jo pointed to behind them. "She and her family left so we can examine the place in peace. Didn't you see them passed by us while you were talking about the kinkiness of Egyptian gods?"

"Uhm, _no_?" Lois winced.

Chloe rolled her eyes at them. "Can we go find us a ghost?"

The two women nodded, going inside the insanely large house and following the small detailed _map_ Mrs. Lafayette had left with Chloe before scurrying off. After taking a couple of wrong turns and having to back track, they finally found the part of the house being remodeled, Lois whistling at the blood splattered on the wall.

"Talk about extreme art."

"So are we looking for a hammer-wielding ghost---or a ghost who just picks up any weapon and uses it?" Jo asked, twirling a small blade between her fingers as she looked around, aware of her surroundings.

"Good question." Chloe announced, looking at Lois warily when the woman pulled out an EMF detector. "That isn't what I think it is, is it?"

Lois looked at her in curiosity before suddenly realizing what she was asking and making up her nose. "_Please_. Like I would be stupid enough to pick up the wrong EMF meter. No, this is one of the other ones in storage."

She handled the thing with a sneer, obvious not trusting it much due to its _energy_ or whatever it was she said got disrupted when someone else did these machines.

Chloe shook her head at her cousin before turning her attention to Jo, who was feeling the wall with the blood on it. "Whatcha doing?"

She had a good idea of what the girl was doing, and if it was so she _really_ liked this one.

"Well, I was thinking." Jo looked up from where she was knocking. "The stuff only happened when they started remodeling right? But it didn't get _dangerous_ until that guy tried to knock off this wall. So I'm thinking there's something about this wall in general that---." The next knock sounded hollow, and Jo grinned brightly. "Bingo."

"What do you say we help our clients with their remodeling?" Chloe asked as their gazes went to the sledgehammers resting amongst the tools.

Jo grinned. "_Let's_."

Lois was happy to leave them to put on the goggles and to each grab a sledgehammer, swinging them into the walls. The brunette was busy fingering the EMF meter, ready to pick up the presence of the ghost should it choose to appear to try and stop them.

At first the EMF reader didn't seem to be working, none of the lights were on or _anything_, and Lois shook it.

Nothing.

The woman took in a deep breath and sighed, tapping it against her palm.

Nothing.

She banged it in annoyance against a toolbox.

Nothing.

"Piece of crap!" She snapped, throwing it down on the ground before twirling to face Chloe accusingly. "See? _This_ is why we need our own techie!"

Chloe, busy pounding the sledgehammer into the wall, ignored Lois' words, raising her hand to stop Jo when she noticed something inside.

"What is it?" Jo asked, pulling up her goggles and wiping at the sweat on her forehead with her sleeve.

Grabbing a flashlight Chloe shone it inside of the hole they'd made in the wall and peered inside carefully. "There's a passage way in here. And some stairs. I think there's a whole different secret level to this home."

Lois heard a weird beeping sound and turned towards the EMF meter and blinking when she saw it lit up with all sorts of colors it shouldn't be showing…unless…

Her eyes widened in horror.

"Uh, _Chloe_?"

"What?" Chloe asked, still peering into the darkness, leaning deeper inside of the large hole.

"Remember when I said I wouldn't be stupid enough to pick up the wrong EMF?" Lois asked guiltily.

Chloe froze.

Jo wondered what they were talking about.

"_Lois!_" Chloe made to turn around but suddenly something in the darkness surged at her and she screamed, being pulled inside of the wall and disappearing within as it collapsed completely behind her.

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**Review?**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Don't own Smallville/Supernatural.**

Wanna thank **DiscoLemonadeDiva, vamp1987, xineweber, violent-smurf, ChamberlinofMusic, Dannie Tomlinson, Idril-Lune **and **TheAttentioinJustEncouragesHer** for reviewing the previous chapter.

Written for my Livejournal Paranormal25 150 Prompt Table. Prompt of the day #8: Necromancer.

Warning: A little dark.

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Chloe woke up to the sound of her phone ringing.

Groaning, the blonde brought her hand to her head and pressed against the throbbing ache before fumbling in the dark for her phone and answering it with a groan. "Hello?"

"Chloe?" Ava's voice was concerned. "You and the others need to get out of that house immediately. I did a thorough background check on that house and I didn't find only _one_ weird thing happening there."

"What are you talking about?" For a moment's Chloe's mind was blank as to what Ava could be referring to. The blonde was dizzy, disoriented, and from the darkness around her she was guessing it was night—but then again, despite the pitch darkness of the room she somehow could tell it wasn't hers—and she was on the floor.

"_Multiple_ people went missing in that house or around it during its construction and many more after it was completed." Ava announced. "The original owner was Morgan Man, and he was an upstanding citizen in the day. I mean, he was Mayor and head Elder in his church and had this ridiculously perfect family and image that makes you just know _something_ had to be wrong with him!"

Sitting up with a groan, Chloe listened to Ava's words, trying to remember where she was or how she'd gotten there. Her memory was real hazy and the throbbing pain in her head wasn't helping either. "Go on."

"Well, around that time there were these multiple disappearance in the town, and they all had one thing in common."

"Let me guess, pretty young women?" Chloe asked, beginning to remember going to a house to check---had someone gotten hurt? Where was she? Where were Lois and Jo?

"Not exactly..." Ava hesitated for a moment. "I---I don't think this is relevant or anything _myself_, but, uh, when I told Lana about it she went pale and told me to call you and get you out of there immediately. She tried calling you herself the few first times but it just rang and rang, and then she went and said she needed to talk to someone named 'Clark' and that I must continue trying to call you."

Chloe frowned, knowing that if Lana was calling _Clark_ things were Apocalyptic. "What's the connection between the past victims, Ava?"

Ava cleared her throat. "The people who were disappearing were really different and none were really connected with each other, but from my own still ongoing checks, well----they were all were connected to hurt children, abused children, children who'd gone missing, or---or murdered children."

Chloe's body went still with horror, paling as her blood ran cold. "Oh god." Finally the memory of how she'd gotten here returned, and she remembered the figure pulling her in before others knocked down the wall behind them to keep Lois and Jo from going after her and then everything had gone black. "Ava, I need you to do something for me."

"Sure, shoot." Ava responded.

Reaching into her boot, Chloe pulled out her spare flashlight and turned it on, shining it around her. "I was taken by the ghosts and the path was destroyed so Lois and Jo couldn't come down after us. Call them, make sure they're okay."

"Wait, what do you _mean_ you got nabbed by Casper?" Ava asked, worried. "Where are you? Did you say _ghosts_? As in _plural_?"

"There's whole hidden lower level to this house." Chloe peered through the darkness that seemed to devour the beam of her flashlight whole. "It---it looks like a catacomb."

"Not good."

"My thoughts exactly."

"What about you?" Ava asked. "What can I do to help you?"

"I have a specialized, custom-made GPS chip imbedded under my skin, activate it by entering into Tara's database, its Hidden Achieves---Lana should have given you all of the restriction codes. Go into the Command Center and type in activate agent and then type in 38277492749374. The rest should be fairly straight forwards. The closest satellite above me should be able to pick up my signal and project on the computer screen my location."

"GPS?" Ava asked, intrigued, the sound of typing in the background. "Do you get buried underground often?"

"I've been enjoying this pastime since I was fifteen, actually. First time I was buried alive was in a coffin in Miller's field. The chip would have been _very_ useful back then." Chloe smiled as her beam fell upon her bag, which thankfully the ghosts hadn't taken from her.

Hurrying to her bag, Chloe looked through it and smiled, pulling out her revolver and checking it. It didn't seem damaged, and the rock salt bullets and such were still inside.

"Also, I want you to run a more in depth check on the back ground of this Mister Perfect." Chloe announced, loading the revolver. "There has to be a reason why this is happening. See if he lost a child or a sibling maybe when they were young."

"Okay, no problem." There was a pause. "You know, if you're in a catacomb your cellphone has _awesome_ reception."

"I was thinking the same." The blonde grinned, feeling better now that she had a way to defend herself. "Ava, listen, I'm going to explore this place. I've been brought here for a reason, okay? Get in contact with Lois and Jo and let them know what's going on." With that she hung up and put her phone back in her back pocket.

The blonde took in a deep breath before holding the flashlight in one hand and the revolver in the other, ready to aim and fire if any of the ghosts come back at her. "Now or never, Sullivan."

Taking in a deep breath, Chloe started down the dark, damp passageway, shining her light. She shivered slightly, the temperature under the house much colder than the house itself, and she wondered if it was because of a congregation of undead or if there was another explanation for it.

Feeling the temperature dropping more and more, Chloe narrowed her eyes and turned, shining her flashlight behind her, not seeing anything but not exactly feeling relieved since she knew from experience that just because you couldn't see them didn't mean they weren't there.

Noticing an odd scent, Chloe sniffed and followed the scent to the wall, shining her light on it and blinking when she saw the small trench carved into the lining of the rock, and realized what the black powder there was.

Searching in her bag quickly she pulled out a matchbox and lit a match, letting it fall into the long trench, shielding her eyes from the small explosion as the black powder ignited brightly, quickly, lighting the trail ahead of her.

"_Hmmm_." Putting away her flashlight, Chloe headed down the tunnel, turning left and right, glad that there was only one vein because not only would it help her from getting lost, but when Lois and Jo got through they'd have no trouble finding her. All they'd have to do would be follow the trail of light.

Farther in Chloe began to notice skeletons lining the walls of the cave-like tunnel, looking as if they'd gotten stuck there, some even reaching out their hands to her as if asking for help.

She shivered and looked away, not wanting to know what'd happened to them.

The tunnel opened up into a large mouth, which led into a large room. Chloe didn't need to enter it to know that it was the room where the sacrifices or rituals or _whatever_ this place had been dedicated to had taken place. But she _did_ need to go in to get a better idea of what exactly they were dealing with.

She hesitated, looking back. "Lois? Jo? You guys got through yet?"

Her yell rang through the tunnel with no audible response.

Sighing, Chloe turned back to the entrance "Sometimes I _really_ hate my job."

Butching up, the blonde entered the fully lit room and stopped, eyes widening. "Oh God."All around her were bodies.

And not only human.

And some hadn't even finished decomposing as yet.

These ghosts hadn't suddenly started again.

They'd never _stopped_.

"How _dare_ you enter here so boldly?"

Chloe turned at the sound, aiming her gun at the spirit of a man wearing a cravat and poncy looking suit. "Let me guess. Mr. Man."

The spirit paused, seemingly surprised that she knew of him. "Yes, and _you_, murderer, should have been done away with like all these other abominations!"

"You know, that's kinda harsh. You don't even know my name and yet you're _judging_." Chloe tried to keep calm, stall for time.

She had rocksalt, but that would only deter the spirit for so long. Without information of where the body was or what was tying this bastard to this world she was in trouble.

"I know that my minions, my workers of _justice_, would only react to you if you had the blood of an innocent _child_ on your hands."

Chloe's hands shook. "You know _nothing_ about me, mister."

"I know all I need to know." Morgan Man sneered at her, circling her. "I know what it's like to be a child and feel helpless, scared, unable to defend yourselves as a _monster_ tears you to pieces! I managed to get out alive somehow, but my twin---he didn't. I felt all the horrors that he felt, and I vowed I would _never_ let my soul rest until every single person with innocent children's blood and tears tainting their souls were punished for what they did to those who couldn't defend themselves!"

"I'm sorry for what you had to go through." Chloe really meant it. "But it's not excuse for what you're doing."

"Every single thing in here has hurt or killed its child, or a child in its care, a small creature that relied and _trusted_ it." Morgan Man sneered. "Who did _you_ kill?"

Her hands began to shake harder.

"What child that depended on you, that trusted you, got hurt because of it?" Morgan seemed to enjoy the pain radiating out of her body. "Whose innocent blood do you have tainting your soul?"

Tears began to fog up her gaze.

"What poor, misguided, trusting and _naïve_ child put its trust in _you_?" He was closer, sneering.

Chloe dropped her gun and brought her hands to her face. "Alice."

Her whole body shook as she began to cry brokenly, forgetting that she was in a hunt--that her life was in danger. All of a sudden images and sounds were forced on her, and she was forced to relive the beautiful, precious life that'd been ended so horribly, so abruptly, and all because of _her_.

"Yes…" Morgan Man hissed as he circled her like the predator that he was. "Feel the pain! Feel the anguish that child went through because of you! _Punish_ for what you did!"

"_Ally_…" Chloe sobbed broken-heartedly, falling to her knees in the middle of the bodies around her. "I'm so _sorry_."

"Sorry?" Morgan sounded furious as he leaned over her, hissing in her ear. "Do you _think_ 'sorry' is enough?!?"

"No." Chloe shook her head. "_Never_."

And then she wasn't in the room anymore, she was in the bedroom, looking down at the bloodied body of the beautiful three year old. She was crying, the grief returning to rapidly and fiercely she couldn't distinguish between reality and fantasy as she scooped up that tiny, lifeless body and held her to her heart.

Chloe collapsed to the ground, holding the child's cold, bleeding body to her chest and crying, rocking back and forth. "No…No…No…No…Not her! God! Not _her_!"

A gunshot rang throughout the room, and yet Chloe didn't react, staring down into the face of the child, crying. "Ally…God---not Ally---not her!"

Something went up in flame next to her.

Screams inhuman filled the room.

And yet she couldn't take her eyes off of that face.

Those eyes opened. "Why?" That soft voice she hadn't heard in two years asked her accusingly, so _hurt_. "Why did you let this happen to me? Why did you let him do this to me…_mommy_?"

"_Who_?" Chloe pleaded, desperate, about to go insane with her desperation, her anger and her impotence. "_Who_ did this? _WHO_?!?"

The child pointed one bloodied finger behind them.

Chloe turned and her eyes widened in horror as her teary gaze fell upon the silent, shadowed figure standing behind her. "_You_."

And then it was all gone, all torn away from her like Alice had been, and Chloe was kneeling amongst bodies, kneeling in front of her, shaking her.

"Chloe! Snap out of it!" Jo continued to shake her until seeing Chloe's pupils return to a normal size, and the blonde blinked, coming out of her trance. "It was all a nightmare, none of that was true."

"Yes, it was." Chloe whispered, closing her eyes, feeling so _tired_. "What---happened to Man?"

"Ava contacted us and Lois went to find the idol inside the house that was keeping him here, it's actually one of the carved columns. One side it's the god of children and on the other side it's the god of vengeance. He had a piece of his hair and drops of his blood in a bottle in them, or so Ava discovered." Jo helped Chloe to her feet, slipping her arm around her waist and beginning to lead her out of the room. "Lois must have smashed it to pieces and burnt the remains right on time because I was running out of ammo by the time the bastard went up in flames---along with all the spirits he'd tied down to this room."

Chloe was silent, taking in a deep breath, finding her strength. "My daughter."

Jo gave her a look.

"You know what the profile for the victims is." Chloe didn't need to look at Jo to see the horrified and sorry look on her face as she put together everything. "When I was sixteen, my three year old daughter was slaughtered in her bedroom. I came home from studying at a friend's place one night to find the babysitter and Alice both slaughtered."

"I'm so sorry." Jo whispered, unable to say anything else for a couple of minutes as they walked in silence. "Did they ever find out who did it?"

"No. There were no signs of forced entry or any proof that someone else had been in there except for the---the _massacre_." Chloe closed her eyes tightly. "My father got his promotion soon afterwards and so we moved to Smallville. It---it happened a long time ago."

"You were really young." Jo commented, not judgmentally, but sadly as they continued to make their way up the tunnel. "Was the father ever a part of her life?"

"I---I don't know." Chloe hung her head.

"What do you mean?" Jo frowned.

"The night of my thirteenth birthday I was attacked." The blonde admitted. "I woke up to see a shadowy figure standing at the foot of my bed. I---I couldn't move, my muscles were just _heavy_ and I couldn't _scream_…it was like I had no control over my body. I----after it was over I blacked out and woke up and thought that it'd just been a _horrible_ nightmare, but then a couple of months later I started getting _sick_…"

"Oh my god…" Jo whispered.

"Just---don't tell anyone about what happened down here? Not right now at least?" Chloe asked, finally getting the strength to walk on her own as she wiped at her face. "I—I'll tell everyone in my own time, but for right now I want to get myself straightened out first."

Jo nodded. "Of course." She gave a little smile. "Thanks for trusting that information me."

Chloe smiled shakily at her. "Of course I'd trust it to you, you're a part of the team now, a part of my family, and I trust my family."

Jo's smile grew and she ducked her gaze. "This isn't the test you had planned for us, huh?"

Chloe giggled softly at that. "No, it sure isn't. But both you and Ava passed with flying colors."

"What helped us was that, for some reason, most of the guardian ghosts tied to this place through Man were attracted to that EMF reader…they were fascinated with it and really paid us no attention." Jo couldn't seem to figure it out at all.

Despite the horrible ordeal she'd been put through that night, Chloe couldn't help it.

She threw her head back and laughed.

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**Well, that was it. Hope you enjoyed :D**


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